-
Mullah Nasruddin
As many of our listeners know, the month of Ramadan is when Muslims worldwide fast and give thanks for all they have. Last year for Ramadan and Eid, we told the moral tales of the Wise Fool, a folk figure known as Mullah Nasruddin and now, following Eid al-Adha, we have our post! Of course, this is just one of his names since his tales come from many different regions. In Turkey, for example, he is known as Nasreddin Hodja of Anatolia and is believed to have been a real historical figure from the Seljuk empire. These stories are not…
-
The Poor Prince: An Afghan Tale
Greetings, Travellers! Today, I want to share a story from Afghanistan with you! The story of the “Poor Prince” itself was retold by Adel Mahria with a translation from Dari by Sabzikar which can be found in Kabul’s former Ministry of Information and Culture bimonthly publication on folktales Volume 2, no. 2-3, published in 1974. It has been further retold by Afghan-Canadian Alaheh Amini. I discovered this tale while researching variants of the Polish Glass Mountain story we did a few episodes back. There are several clear links between this story and the Princess on the Glass Hill folklore type,…
Tales from the Enchanted Forest 